When M.J. Vacco opened Martino's Pizzeria in Lafayette two years ago, one of his first stops was the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. Chamber officials gave him the lay of the land -- detailing everything from Lafayette's winter Oatmeal Festival to the city's vision for the Old Town corridor -- but when the August Peach Festival came up in conversation, something clicked.

"I thought of it right then, while I was sitting in the chamber office," Vacco said. "I'll make peach pizza."

Heading into his third Peach Festival with Arts and Antiques this Saturday, Aug. 18, Martino's peach dessert pizza is becoming a staple of the annual celebration, which already included just about every other peach concoction under the sun. Vacco admits he'd never so much as heard of peach pizza when the idea struck him two years ago. Unfortunately, particularly in that first year, no one else had ever heard of peach pizza either.

"This is our third year, and hopefully this year people will be a little more familiar," Vacco said. "That first year was a bit of an uphill battle. People had just never heard of it before so they assumed it was just peaches on a regular pizza. They were looking at me like I had three heads."

Vacco said most people warm to the idea once he has a chance to explain that it's a dessert, without the tomato-based pizza sauce.

The peach pizza is made on Martino's traditional thin, crispy crust, then topped with a coffee cake style crumb topping, cream cheese frosting and marinated peaches. The peaches -- about six to eight for a large pizza -- start marinating in a syrup the day before.

Vacco said he was blown away by his first test pie two years ago.

"It came out like a flat peach cobbler, still with that crispy crust," Vacco said. "I was just like, 'Wow.'" Once they've given it a try, Peach Fest visitors have come to the same general consensus.

In past years, Martino's passed out around 100 slices of peach pizza and roughly 50 slices of its cheese and sausage pizza during the festival.

"We'll have a runner here all day going back and forth from the kitchen to the festival," Vacco said. "They're basically made to order based on how much we're going through." But don't expect to head to Martino's -- 1389 Forest Park Circle -- next week and order a peach pie.

"We're doing it exclusively for Peach Fest," Vacco said. "It's kind of like going to the state fair as a kid. I grew up in Iowa and I remember going to that state fair every year and one of the best things about it was the food, because that was the only place and the only time of year you could get it. The motive for doing a peach pizza is to promote the festival and to promote the Lafayettecommunity. So we do a peach pizza once a year to celebrate it. If you want more, we hope you'll come back next year."

Peach Festival with Arts and Antiques lineup

Festival hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Public Road, between Baseline Road and Kimbark Street

Main Stage (Lafayette Florist parking lot, 600 South Public Road):

10:30 a.m. to noon: RetroSonics

12:30 to 2 p.m.: The Country Music Project

2:30 to 4 p.m.: The Kahuna Beach Party

Kids' Stage (Festival Plaza, on the corner of South Public Road and Chester Street):

10 to 10:45 a.m.: Magical Enchantress -- Erica Sodos

11 to 11:45 a.m.: Clown -- Jim Jackson

Noon to 12:45 p.m.: Magician -- Dave Elstun

1 to 1:45 p.m.: Clown -- Jim Jackson

2 to 2:45 p.m.: Magician -- Dave Elstun

Free face painting by Face Fiesta & balloon sculpting will take place all day

By the numbers: 30,000 pounds of certified organic peaches from Morton's Orchards in Palisade will be available in three locations along Public Road: Public Road and Cleveland Street, Public Road and Kimbark Street; and Public Road and East Chester Street

600 fresh peach pies and individual servings of peach cobbler, while supplies last, will be available for sale at Festival Plaza and in front of the main stage near Lafayette Florist

100 pans of peach cobblers will also be available for purchase while supplies last

2,500 servings of peach smoothies are available only at Festival Plaza

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